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arXiv · 2409.01033

Simulating strong-field electron-hole dynamics in solids probed by attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy

Stefano M. Cavaletto·Lars Bojer Madsen
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Abstract

We investigate the ultrafast electron dynamics of a model of a wide-bandgap material with inner, valence, and conduction bands excited by an intense few-femtosecond pump and monitored by a delayed attosecond extreme-ultraviolet probe pulse. Complementary computational methods are utilized and compared, based on the semiconductor Bloch equations (SBEs) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). TDDFT is employed to study a finite-size system, while the SBEs are utilized to investigate the corresponding solid with periodic boundary conditions imposed, with the crystal-momentum-dependent energy bands and interband couplings calculated in the parallel-transport structure gauge. The resulting strong-field electron dynamics are employed to predict experimentally accessible attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) signals as a function of the probe-pulse frequency and pump-probe interpulse delay. Both simulation protocols similarly capture the time-delay-dependent spectral features in the ATAS signals. The very good agreement between our TDDFT and SBE-based results allows us to interpret the ab-initio TDDFT simulations in terms of SBEs' interband couplings, validating our SBE-based model and corroborating its conclusions.

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Stefano M. Cavaletto, Lars Bojer Madsen. 2024-09-02. Simulating strong-field electron-hole dynamics in solids probed by attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.110.053111

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